While shoe-horning these into conversation today might prove difficult, these 17 synonyms for sex were used often enough in 19th-century England to earn a place in the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, a book for upper-crust Britons who had no idea what the proles were talking about.

1. AMOROUS CONGRESS

To say two people were engaged in the amorous congress was by far the most polite option on the list, oftentimes serving as the definition for other, less discreet synonyms.

2. BASKET-MAKING

“Those two recently opened a basket-making shop.” From a method of making children’s stockings, in which knitting the heel is called basket-making.

Well, I think ours are just less obscure to us, since they’re what we use, so they seem less interesting. If I say “doing the horizontal tango” you probably aren’t enthralled with the strangeness of the phrase.